Chennai, Jan 26 (BPNS)
After a strong protest from the people of Gudalur area in The Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu forest department is chasing away a Makhna (Tuskless male elephant) into deep forest in the Madumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
However, forest department officials of the MTR told BPNS that the elephant which is around 40 years of age has not created any major issues for humans. Of late there have been complaints from the local people that elephants have been creating havoc in their agricultural land and that they were losing crops due to this.
While the Makhna has not been antagonistic to the general public, recently the elephant destroyed three farm lands causing extensive damage to crops.
A senior official of the forest department while speaking to BPNS said, “ People have started a campaign in Gudalur and other areas of Nilgiris to drive this elephant into the forest. Even though we know that it’s a harmless elephant, we have now decided to drive it into the deep forest land in the MTR area.”
The officer said that more than ensuring the safety of the crop and the farmer, the department is driving it into deep forest taking into account the safety of the elephant.
It is to be noted that the Palakkad Tusker 7 (PT7) elephant that had killed a morning walker and damaged crops extensively in Dhoni area of Palakkad district in Kerala was captured a few days before by the Kerala forest department. The animal still in Krall conducted extensive medical checkups and found that 15 pellets were fired at it from air guns.
The Kerala forest minister, A.K. Saseendran has said that the elephant was recovering from the damages but added that farmers should not resort to such cruel acts against elephants. The Tamil Nadu forest department officials are hence driving the makhna into the deep forest to prevent it from the wrath of the local farmers and local people.
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